Obama shelves drug plan

March 25, 2014

President Barack Obama does not have to worry about winning votes from senior citizens this fall. But many members of Congress do - and that may be why they recently kept him from performing another massive raid of Medicare benefits.

The Obama administration had planned to limit access to three classes of drugs on which many Medicare recipients rely. They included antidepressants, antipsychotics and drugs meant to help people with organ transplants.

The move would have saved Medicare $729 million by 2019, according to government estimates.

But, after hearing serious and legitimate complaints from many professionals and experts in the health care community, many members of Congress said they objected to the White House's plan. Soon after, the White House quietly shelved it.

However, nothing has been done about tens of billions of dollars in Medicare cuts linked to the Affordable Health Care Act, commonly called Obamacare. Those remain, and many will have negative impacts on this country's senior citizens.

And to think: Obama and fellow liberals once accused Republicans of not caring about senior citizens' health.